DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICES OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL AND THE SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICES OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

AND THE SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Stephane Dujarric, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Michele Montas, Spokeswoman for the General Assembly President.

Associate Spokesman for Secretary-General

Good afternoon.  Joining us as our guest at the briefing in a short while will be Peter Hansen, the Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

**Panel on Change

The Secretary-General has informed in a letter to the President of the General Assembly that he has appointed a group of eminent persons to serve on his High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, which is to examine the major threats and challenges the world faces in peace and security and make recommendations for the elements of a collective response.

As you will recall, in September the Secretary-General expressed his feeling that the international system was not working the way that it should.  He said, “We need to take a hard look at our institutions themselves, including especially the principal organs of the United Nations –- the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and maybe even the Trusteeship Council.  If they are to regain their authority, they may need radical reform.”

This Panel will advise him on what course that reform should take.  The Panel is being asked to provide a new assessment of the challenges ahead, and it can extend its analysis into other areas, such as economic and social issues, only insofar as they have a direct bearing on future threats to peace and security.

The Panel has 16 members in all, and will be chaired by Anand Panyarachun, the former Prime Minister of Thailand.  We have a full list of the Panel members upstairs along with the Panel’s terms of reference, as well as biographies of the Panel members.

**Statement on Staff Security

Turning to the issue of staff security:

“The Secretary-General is giving close attention to the Report of the Independent Panel on the Safety and Security of United Nations Personnel in Iraq, headed by Mr. Maarti Ahtisaari, the former President of Finland.

“In response to one of its many main recommendations, the Secretary-General has established a team to determine accountability at all managerial levels at Headquarters and in the field to review responsibilities for the relevant decisions prior to the attack on 19 August 2003 in Baghdad.

“The team will be headed by Mr. Gerald Walzer, former Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees.  The other members of the team will be Mr. Srinath Basnayake, former Director of the General Legal Division of the Office of Legal Affairs here at the UN, Mr. Kevin Carty, Assistant Commissioner of the Irish National Police, and Mr. Stuart Groves, Senior Security Manager, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.

“The team will hold its first organizational meeting very shortly, and Mr. Walzer has been asked to present its findings to the Secretary-General with the least possible delay.  The team will determine its methodology and will interview those individuals, both UN officials and others, who it considers will be able to provide it with information it requires.

“Mr. Ramiro Lopes da Silva, Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Iraq, and Mr. Tun Myat, UN Security Coordinator, have asked to be relieved of their present responsibilities while the team conducts its work.

“Accordingly, the Secretary-General has decided that they will take special leave until mid-January, while remaining available to the team to provide relevant information.  During this period, the Office of the UN Security Coordinator will be overseen by the Under-Secretary-General for Management, Catherine Bertini.”

**Statement on Political Developments in Sri Lanka

I have a statement concerning Sri Lanka:

“The Secretary-General is following closely political developments in Sri Lanka.  He hopes that President Kumaratunga’s decisions, which were announced today, including a temporary suspension of Parliament, will not have a negative impact on the peace process.  The Secretary-General wishes to reiterate that he continues to support this process.”

**Statement on Flash Floods in Indonesia

I have another statement concerning Indonesia:

“The Secretary-General has learned with distress that large-scale flash flooding hit northern Sumatra in the Republic of Indonesia.

“The Secretary-General is deeply saddened by the loss of 74 lives and the extensive damage that resulted from the disaster.  He wishes to convey his condolences and deepest sympathy to the Government of the Republic of Indonesia and to the victims of the disaster.

“The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has been in contact with the Indonesian authorities through its field office in Jakarta, and has deployed a team of two Professional staff to the site to help local authorities with the emergency response.”

**Security Council

Turning to the Council, the Security Council today is having its first consultations for the month of November, during which it will discuss its programme of work for the month, and will also discuss Somalia, on which Council members expect to receive a briefing from the Secretary-General’s Representative, Winston Tubman.

The Secretary-General’s latest report on Somalia, which came out yesterday, urged the parties to continue their dialogue in Kenya, to ensure an inclusive solution that they can all support and implement in good faith.

We do expect the President of the Security Council, Ambassador Gaspar Martins, to brief you on the programme of work tomorrow morning at 11 a.m., in this room.

**Security Council Mission to Afghanistan

Meanwhile, the Council’s mission to Afghanistan continues; today is their third day.

The mission, led by German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger, spent nearly nine hours in back-to-back meetings in Kabul on the eve of its visit to the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

The Council members heard briefings and discussed ways to improve the security situation and expand the authority of the central government throughout the country.  They assessed ongoing economic and financial reforms, efforts to fight the narcotics economy, and Afghanistan’s relations with neighbouring Iran and Pakistan.

Early Wednesday (that will be tomorrow), the Council mission is scheduled to travel to Mazar-i-Sharif to see first-hand how the northern city is grappling with the myriad of challenges discussed in today’s sessions.

**Ethiopia-Eritrea

From Ethiopia-Eritrea, the Force Commander of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, Major General Robert Gordon, says that the Mission is investigating a reported incident that took place Saturday morning in the Temporary Security Zone, when one Eritrean militia member on patrol duty was reportedly killed after he and a colleague came under small arms fire from a group of armed men.

The Mission is trying to establish the details, and an investigation team has visited the location, confirming that the firing incident did take place.  Ethiopia’s Defence Ministry has denied any Ethiopian military involvement in the incident.  General Gordon said that the Mission deeply deplores any activity in the security zone that “has the potential of destabilizing the peace process”.  And we have more information upstairs.

**Food and Agriculture Organization

A few more items for you.  The UN Food and Agriculture Organization is distributing late-planting crop seeds to some 70,000 drought-affected families in northern Ethiopia, according to the agency’s press release.  The prolonged drought and delayed rains have meant loss of crops in the area.  We have more information upstairs on that.

**Burundi

Turning to Burundi, as you know, yesterday afternoon we issued a statement on Burundi, in which the Secretary-General welcomed the Pretoria Protocol on Outstanding Political, Defence and Security Power-Sharing Issues, which was signed on Sunday between Burundi’s transitional Government and the CNDD/FDD.

He called on those parties to ensure full implementation of the Protocol in accordance with the agreed timetable and reiterated his call on the FNL to join the peace process without delay.

**WFP-Democratic Republic of Congo

The World Food Programme (WFP) reports that, because of the peace agreement and a decrease in fighting, WFP has had access to some areas in the North and South Kivu provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo which had previously been inaccessible.

The WFP reports that they had never seen violations on this scale before.  There were thousand of women who had been atrociously violated; WFP believes that these were just the tip of the iceberg.  Females as young as five and as old as  80 had been systematically violated, tortured and wounded by bullets.  And we have more information on that upstairs.

**Guinea

Turning to Guinea, UNICEF is out with a report today on West African children fleeing into Guinea.  The UNICEF report says the children, coming from Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone, are joining thousands of Guinean children who have been separated from their families and are fending for themselves in urban centres.  We have more on that upstairs.

**Iraq

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) today said that the number of women who die of pregnancy and childbirth in Iraq has nearly tripled since 1990, with an estimated 310 deaths per 100,000 live births recorded last year.  Between 50 and 70 per cent of all pregnant women in Iraq suffer from iron-deficiency anaemia, as well as malaria and other problems.  We have more from the UNFPA upstairs.  And we are reaching the end of this briefing.

**UN Protocol against Smuggling of Migrants

The Government of Azerbaijan yesterday became the 40th State to ratify the United Nations Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, thus allowing the treaty to enter into force in January of next year.

**Secretary-GeneralAward

This evening, the Aspen Institute plans to give its Global Leadership Award to the Secretary-General, and Olara Otunnu, the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, will deliver a message on the Secretary-General’s behalf at the Institute’s dinner, saying that he feels deeply honoured by the Award.  We’ll put out embargoed copies of that message this afternoon.

**Budget

On budget, Ethiopia paid more than $54,000 and Haiti more than $22,000, to become the 119th and 120th Member States to pay their UN regular budget dues in full this year.

**World Chronicle Programme

World Chronicle Programme 911 with Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of  UN-HABITAT, will be shown today at 3:30 this afternoon on in-house television channel 3 or 31.

**Secretary-GeneralTrip

Finally, just to remind you that the Secretary-General departs today on a four-nation trip that will take him to Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.  He leaves this evening.  The itinerary of his official visits to those countries is available upstairs.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  It seems a bit of an unusual coincidence that Tun Myat and Ramiro both decided voluntarily to temporarily ask to be relieved of their duty.  Were they asked?  Were they presented with basically a choice of having this imposed on them, or accepting it voluntarily?  And also, the fact that the Secretary-General has asked the Deputy Secretary-General to organize or to oversee the reorganization of the security system -- is that an indication that he thinks that the Deputy Secretary-General and the steering committee handled the security issue well?  They have come under some criticism, as well, in the Ahtisaari report.  Does he not believe that that criticism was warranted?

Associate Spokesman:  The Secretary-General reiterates his full confidence in the Deputy Secretary-General and she will continue, as I have said, with the responsibility she’s been assigned.  As for Ramiro Lopes da Silva and Tun Myat, as you know, Ramiro was the designated official on the ground with responsibilities for security for UN personnel in Iraq, and Tun Myat is the UN Security Coordinator in charge of overall security coordination.  It is important to point out that Tun Myat reported to the steering group and other officials, and that chain of reporting up the ladder will be taken into consideration by the team named today, so that will be part of the investigation.

Question:  Were they asked to voluntarily step down?

Associate Spokesman:  What I have is that they both volunteered to be relieved of their duties while the investigation was going on.

Question:  In looking at Tun Myat’s resumé here, there is nothing in his pedigree that indicated that he had any great degree or background in security.  So, my question is, why was he appointed to this position, when he spent 22 years with the World Food Programme and another 15 years with a shipping company.  What made the Secretary-General appoint a guy with very little security background, as far as training or experience?

Associate Spokesman:  You know, I don’t have the background on that decision.  What I can tell you is that we will be taking a good hard look at the way security is being managed in the Organization and that will include obviously what sort of people, kind of people are named to different security posts.  If he was appointed to that post, it was felt he could handle the job, obviously.

Question:  But can you get an answer for us, as to why he was, considering that the resumé you guys put out on 10 May 2002 does not indicate that he has any great background in security, or actual qualifications for the post?

Associate Spokesman:  Security coordination also involves people who have knowledge of UN operations on the ground, how the humanitarian functions work, and that’s a very important part of that job, as well.

Question:  Stephane, do you have any information as to when this 16-member Panel will actually begin to discharge its duties and how, in practical terms, it will make recommendations or compile reports or whatever it’s planning to do?  And thirdly, does the fact that the Secretary-General addresses the letter to the President of the General Assembly mean that the recommendations of the 16-member Panel will stay in the General Assembly or will they, at some point, go to the Security Council and take on a binding nature?

Associate Spokesman:  I don’t want to preclude what the members of the Panel will decide.  I mean, it was addressed to the General Assembly because the General Assembly represents all Member States and all Member States are concerned with this.  They will report to the Secretary-General.  We expect them to meet within the next few weeks to gather here in New York, and they will then decide on their timetable of work, how often they want to meet and how they will actually get down to working, but we do expect them to report within the year.  Any other questions?

Question:  Yeah, I do have another one, on the other panel, the security group, are they going to publish the results of their investigation?  Is that going to be public?

Associate Spokesman:  I will find out for you.  Mr. Hansen, you want to join us?  In the meantime, Michele, please go ahead.

Spokeswoman for General Assembly President

Thank you, Stephane.  Good afternoon.

On the appointment of the eminent persons of the Secretary General’s High level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, I have a statement from the President of the General Assembly.

“The President of the General Assembly on Monday, 3 November 2003, received from the Secretary-General a letter informing the President that he had appointed a group of eminent people to serve on the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change which he has established.  Attached to the letter was the full list of panelists, as well as the terms of reference of the Panel.

“The President looks forward to being kept informed by the Secretary-General of the progress of the work of the Panel on issues of paramount importance to the United Nations.”

The General Assembly is voting today on the issue of “ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”.

Twenty-two speakers are addressing the Assembly on this issue.  The resolution, introduced this morning by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Felipe Perez Roque, should come shortly to a vote.  (It was later learned that the vote, taken at 12:29 p.m. was 179 in favour to 3 against (Israel, Marshall Islands, United States), with 2 abstentions (Micronesia and Morocco).

The issue has been addressed since 1991 by the United Nations General Assembly.  A similar resolution last year received a recorded vote of 173 in favour to 3 against, with 4 abstentions.

This afternoon, the General Assembly will resume its examination of the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency, presented yesterday by the Director General of the Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei.

Thirteen speakers are expected to take the floor.  The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will speak in explanation of vote before the vote.

This is all I have for you today.  Thank you.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  I just have a question.  There are reports that Israel is intending on introducing some sort of resolution condemning terrorism attacks by Palestinians.  Can you give us any indication when do you think that is coming down the road?  And also, is there any precedent?  It’s unusual for the Israelis to introduce a resolution on this issue, and have they ever done it before?  Is there some sense of the history of Israel’s activities in the GA on this issue?

Spokeswoman for Assembly President:  Okay, it is highly unusual, as you said.  It is being introduced, as far as I know, in the Third Committee and it concerns the welfare of children in Israel and the attacks against children.  But, we don’t have any more on this, because the resolution has not been presented yet.  It has not been tabled.

Associate Spokesman:    Anyone else?  Mr. Hansen, welcome back ...

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